Mount Auburn (Boston Trip Part 2)

While in Boston we visited the gardens and arboretum of the Mount Auburn Cemetery. Yes, that is right, a cemetery! Mount Auburn is a designated National Historic Landmark, founded in 1831 on 175 acres of meadows, hills, ponds and woods in Cambridge. It was America's first landscaped cemetery. Today it continues in its role as a cemetery, as a beautiful landscaped park and now also as a bird sanctuary for migrating birds. The cemetery contains more that 5,500 trees of nearly 700 different taxa, most of which are labeled with common and scientific names. Twenty eight of the trees here are state champions. There are also graves of many noted Americans, beautiful cast-iron fences, an ornamental garden, the beautiful Bigelow chapel and many, many monuments, memorials and interesting gravestones. The view from Washington Tower is worth the climb. This photo was taken before we even walked up to the steps of the monument.